Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Where There's a Will, There's a Way

Gamblers are already figuring out ways to get around the Justice Department's crackdown on Internet gambling. Wealthy players are rumored to have actually established residences outside the U.S. in order to bet. Others have opened bank accounts overseas. Less dramatic measures include using Western Union, Moneygrams, cashier's checks, money orders and a new sports debit card, touted by some offshore books as the next breaktrough in online betting. And here's a stunner for you: Las Vegas has lost the title of gambling capital of the world. Macau, the tiny former Portuguese colony on China's southeastern coast, is the new Las Vegas. Officials announced that gambling revenue in Macau in 2006 reached nearly $6.95 billion dollars, more than the estimated $6.6 billion taken in by Vegas. There is no end in sight for Macau's boom. An estimated 2.2 billion people live within five hours' flying time of Macau. By comparison, 410 million people live within the same radius of Vegas. Officials say Macau's gaming revenue could hit $8 billion in 2007.